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The BCII degree, first offered in 2014, was the university's first foray into offering students a full degree across disciplines, concentrating on attributes such as problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.

Real industry problems

Students work in multi-disciplinary teams and are thrown straight into working with real industry problems.

They are balanced between many disciplines and, when working in teams, students studying many different degrees are put together.

"That's what the students love most, working with different disciplines," Professor Brungs said.

The BCII must be done in parallel with another degree. For the first three years, students do an extra four weeks of intensive work. Then there is a fourth year solely devoted to the BCII.

Since launching the BCII, the university has pushed on, creating other degrees that cross disciplinary boundaries.

It has started a post-graduate degree, the master of data science and innovation.

"It's a postgraduate version of the BCII but slightly more focussed," Professor Brungs said. "It's about data science but it's not just software, it's all elements of data science.

"It's transdisciplinary because it uses a whole lot of different disciplines to understand data science."

Another new degree

And next year the university will launch an undergraduate degree in innovation which, unlike the BCII, will stand alone and does not have to be studied alongside another degree.

Deputy vice-chancellor (education and students) Shirley Alexander said it would be innovation's equivalent of a BA.

"If you look at what a bachelor of arts is, it's learning problem solving and critical thinking in the context of the arts," she said. "This is learning problem solving and critical thinking in the context of digital and data."

Professor Alexander said industry was telling the university there was enormous appetite for graduates from these degrees that emphasised creativity and innovation.

The university's goal is that 10-15 per cent of its courses will be fully transdisciplinary like these degrees. Another 20-30 per cent of courses will be multi-disciplinary and have elements of these courses.

To embed these courses and ensure they are an integral part of the structure of the university, UTS has created what is believes is the world's first transdisciplinary faculty, the faculty of transdisciplinary innovation, and has appointed Louise McWhinnie as its first dean.